Noaker, Bachoura Sweep Sebring in Opening Weekend of Mustang Challenge
Robert Noaker led every lap from pole position, while also setting fastest lap
In Dark Horse Legends, Alex Bachoura landed P1 in class
UNOFFICIAL DH CLASS TOP-FIVE FINISHERS:
- Robert Noaker – No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing
- Devin Anderson – No. 22 TechSport
- Corbin Collins – No. 20 McCumbee McAleer Racing
- Sandy Satullo – No. 7 Robert Noaker Racing
- Tate Pritt – No. 98 Automatic Racing
UNOFFICIAL DHL CLASS TOP-FIVE FINISHERS:
- Alex Bachoura – No. 33 Spark Performance
- Alfonso Diaz – No. 15 Techsport
- Zachry Lee – No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing
- Drew Naubauer – No. 79 NV Autosport
- Paulo Salvatore- No. 84 Torre Racing
ROBERT NOAKER, No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “It feels great. Like yesterday being able to carry the momentum from last year through the offseason and to be able to continue it into the 2025 season, it feels great for the team. Thank you to all of our partners, Red Line Oil, OBHOA, Rev Match Insurance, without them it makes this a lot more difficult.”
DEVIN ANDERSON, No. 22 TechSport Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “We were definitely a lot closer to the front spot today. We made adjustments to the car which helped a lot. I’m just happy to be here. Ford’s putting on a beautiful show, and I’m just happy to be a part of it. I’m going for a champion this year. I’m looking forward to Laguna Seca the most. I’m really excited for it because I’ve never been there and I’m a long time fan. Also VIR, the hometown track and I feel really strong about that one”
CORBIN COLLINS, No. 20 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “Today’s race was a wonderful drama free race. It went pretty well. Not a whole lot to worry about. We got to fight up front. I was happy to be out there. Weather beaming down, the track was nice and hot and greasy, so that made things interesting as well. The competition was great, everyone’s very respectful, everyone’s very tight, everyone’s very competitive as to be expected. The paddock is otherworldly to me. It’s absolutely wonderful. The professionalism, the punctuality, everything has been absolutely wonderful, and I’m more than thrilled to be here. We’ll see you at the next race!”
ALEX BACHOURA, No. 33 Spark Performance Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “It was great. I had a really great car from Sparks Performance. I started seventh and worked my way up. I had a gap on Diaz, but the guy in front of me was spilling oil. He had differential issues, so I kept getting slower and slower than when he finally pulled off, Diaz had already caught me, so it was a great battle with Diaz. He’s a great driver. I made some mistakes, he made some mistakes, and so we kind of kept up with each other. It was basically the guy who had made the least mistakes won it. I have a lot of respect for Diaz, he’s a fantastic racer and very clean driver, so I had a great time. It was fantastic.”
ALFONSO DIAZ, No. 15 TechSport Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “It was an epic battle. We had a bad start, I bumped the front of the car in the front. Then I had to lift and then everyone went by me. Bachoura came by and the goal of the rest of the race was to catch up and try to pass. We basically had the same pace. He would make a mistake, then I would catch him. I’d make a mistake, he would pull away. But we had the same pace. We had a great last battle on the last lap, side by side into turn 10. It was clean, we kept it clean, but he came out first. I had to give him the room to keep it clean, so it was a good battle till the end.”
ZACHRY LEE, No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “My race two was better than race one. I just didn’t have the pace to keep up with these Diaz and Bachoura and I was kind of scratching my head there. Had I still had some problems with the high speed stuff. I’m gonna try to stay with them in Laguna.”
Chelsea DeNofa, who earned a 2023 Formula Drift championship in a Ford Mustang, entered into Mustang Challenge this season, finishing in seventh place in the Dark Horse class.
CHELSEA DENOFA, No. 88 Creative Autosport Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “The race today went amazing. We decided to run on our qualifying tires that only had a few laps for Race two. I cooked them a little bit early because I’m overdriving the car. It was really nice to drive the car with the cooked tires because I found a lot of speed with a lesser car at that point. I learned a lot about the chassis and some things it likes and doesn’t like that were maybe masked before. So I was able to find consistency for almost 20 laps straight.
“There is a lot of little chassis tweaks that you can do to make these things get around the turn and match the driving style well, but ultimately in the end, the speed is so ideal between the cars, no one’s ever pulling on anyone, and when they do, it’s because a driver made a mistake. This is some of the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. We fought ourselves all the way up, five or six positions in every race, and then unfortunately, I just overcooked it and drove it too hard. We’re learning, and I’m really excited about this series
“My teammate Chip had an off and has to get the car fixed up a little bit. But he’s also gaining some speed throughout the weekend, which is really exciting. We’re gonna take the cars down, fine tune them, and prepare for the Le Mans Invitational, which is really, really exciting. That’s my real big benchmark for this series to be able to come out and kind of trade in my 20 years of drifting and the last years of working with Ford and be able to go race Le Mans. I feel that normally it takes 20 years of driving and road racing to drive Le Mans. So being able to trade that kind of time out in my efforts to be able to race Le Mans with the Mustang Dark Horse R will be an absolutely amazing thing. I’m excited to see how it goes.”
Noaker Wins Mustang Challenge Sebring Opener; Bachoura Earns Legends Win, Overall Podium
Noaker, Bachoura Capture Sebring Season Opener
- Robert Noaker secured a Dark Horse class victory after earning pole position in qualifying
- Alex Bachoura drove to a Dark Horse Legends victory, earning P3 overall
UNOFFICIAL DH CLASS TOP-FIVE FINISHERS:
- Robert Noaker – No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing
- Devin Anderson – No. 22 TechSport
- Corbin Collins – No. 20 McCumbee McAleer Racing
- Colin Harrison – No. 21 TechSport
- Cristian Perocarpi – No. 37 LAP Motorsports
UNOFFICIAL DHL CLASS TOP-FIVE FINISHERS:
- Alex Bachoura – No. 33 Spark Performance
- Zachry Lee – No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing
- Tom Tait – No. 8 Competition Motorsports
- Drew Naubauer – No. 8 NV Autosport
- Paolo Salvatore- No. 84 Torre Racing
ROBERT NOAKER, No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “It was definitely a good start for the year. To be able to carry the momentum from the end of last year into this year is what we were hoping to be able to do. We worked on the setup overnight on the car and tried to get it to where we wanted it, and we got it there. The first couple laps were just trying to build a gap and then once I got the gap, we just maintained the tires to try to keep something for the end of the race. If there would be a full course caution, which there was, I was glad I kept the tires for then and that restart was definitely hectic. Dealing with the debris leftover in Turn 1 and everyone skating through there on dirty tires and the dirt on the track, it was a good race to the end there.”
DEVIN ANDERSON, No. 22 TechSport Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “This first race was a ton of fun. It was so great to finally get out there for a full stint in these Mustang challenge Dark Horse R cars. It was also challenging. Robert Noaker really brought it today and I felt like for a while our pace was fairly maintained, but once those tires started to go, he just started to check out. The restart was crazy with tons of action. I’m happy we survived and got points.”
CORBIN COLLINS, No. 20 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “My first experience in Mustang Challenge was absolutely wonderful, very happy to be out here and it was an absolute blast. The car felt wonderful. It’s getting hot out there, very greasy, especially after the WeatherTech (Championship) cars go out. The car felt great, had a great car all race, and managed it well. The competition here is absolutely top of the notch, I love it. I’m out there with some of the best drivers I’ve ever driven with. It’s wonderful.”
ALEX BACHOURA, No. 33 Spark Performance Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “I finished overall third starting from second to last after I got a three-pound penalty. We were three pounds short, and it was really heartbreaking. I was really devastated. I was hoping I’ll be in the top 10. A lot of people put new tires on, but I just had my qualifying tires. I felt like there was no point, to run a new set but “Sparky” (Nathaniel Sparks) and his team from Sparks Performance gave me a missile. The car was so fast. It was fast in the corners, it was fast on entry. I felt like I had the best car in the field. I slowly worked my way up one by one by one and a lot of this driving is consistent. I just never made mistakes. All of my passes were because somebody in front of me went off or made a mistake or braked too late. Consistency pays off in these cars. This is a great series, a great car, 500 horsepower, manual transmission. You can’t ask for more. Thank you Ford!”
ZACHRY LEE, No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “I just went backwards the whole race. I thought I had some brake problems, so I dropped my way back and I just drove terribly. So we’ll see what happens tomorrow in Race 2. The upgrades for this season make the Mustang Dark Horse R just really fast. There’s tons of grip with the new tire. It’s actually hard to kind of deal with it because it’s so different from the old tire. I’m sure we’lll watch video overnight and make some setup changes for tomorrow, but the main change I gotta make is this in my head, I gotta just bring some more aggressiveness. I just went backwards all the time.”
TOM TAIT, No. 8 Competition Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “It was a great race, we were able to come from dead last, one behind Alex [Bachoura]. We also had a weight penalty, so we started at the back and worked our way up to P2 in class, and had a fantastic race. The competition motorsports machine, Ford Mustang Dark Horse R was fantastic. We’re having just a great time here at Mustang Challenge and really appreciate Chris Ward, Glenn Long and Dave Born, and all of the Ford support team for being here and putting this together for us.”
Chelsea DeNofa, who earned a 2023 Formula Drift championship in a Ford Mustang, entered into Mustang Challenge this season, finishing in seventh place in the Dark Horse class.
CHELSEA DENOFA, No. 88 Creative Autosport Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “The Mustang Dark Horse R felt really good today. We had our fastest lap out there on the second or third lap, somewhere around the low 2:17s, which for me was a big improvement over the weekend. So we’re figuring the chassis out, getting it sorted, getting it to turn left and right, because for me, it was a little bit better at all the right handers then left earlier yesterday, but the set up overnight really fixed that. The start was clean and it was a really good race. Overall, the car stayed really linear throughout the race, so, I don’t have a whole lot of complaints. I do love the power, love the breaking, and honestly the turn in and and what the car does with feedback, it’s so neutral that it makes it really easy to drive.”
